Steven A. Jones

STEVEN A. JONES grew up in Brooklyn New York and was educated at The Institute of Design at The Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Design. In creative collaboration with director John McNaughton, Steve has been credited as producer or co-producer on! eight feature films and has also produced features for four other first-time directors. Mr. Jones has also directed numerous animated national television commercials for clients including Quaker Oats, Capn' Crunch and McDonalds He has directed music videos, documentaries and concert video content for the band Styx. The controversial Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer was McNaughton and Jones' first feature. Steve produced and was one of the film score composers. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 1989 and went on to great critical acclaim, including six Independent Spirit Award nominations. The Borrower, a science fiction/fantasy produced for Atlantic Entertainment Group in 1988, was the second pairing of Jones and McNaughton. The film won awards at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain. Steve then went on to co-produce the feature film version of Eric Bogosian's live performance of his one man show Sex, Drugs, And Rock and Roll for Avenue Pictures in 1991 He was a co-producer on Universal's Mad Dog and Glory, starring Robert DeNiro, Bill Murray and Uma Thurman, with Martin Scorcese and Barbara DeFina producing and McNaughton directing. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993. Normal Life was produced in 1995 for New Line/Spelling and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It starred Luke Perry and Ashley Judd. Once again, McNaughton directed and Jones coproduced. Steve produced Tanya Wexler's directorial debut Finding North in 1997, which premiered at the Palm Springs Film Festival. He then went on to produce Wild Things directed by John McNaughton for Mandalay/Columbia and starring Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell, Denise Richards, Bill Murray and Theresa Russell. Steve produced Speaking of Sex starring James Spader, Bill Murray, Melora Walters, Jay Mohr, Lara Flynn Boyle and Catharine O'Hara. John McNaughton directed the film for Canal + and it premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival in 2001. Steve produced The Promotion, written and directed by Steve Conrad and starring John C. Reilly, Sean William Scott, Lily Taylor, Jenna Fisher, Jason Bateman and Fred Armissen for The Weinstein Company in the summer of 2006. The film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival 2008. The Merry Gentleman was Michael Keaton's directorial debut and it starred Mr. Keaton, Kelly McDonald and Bobby Cannavale. The film was produced by Steve in 2007 and premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Steve served as one of the producers on Drunkboat, starring John Malkovich, John Goodman, and Dana Delaney, which premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival in 2011. In 2013 Mr. Jones produced "The Harvest", directed by John McNaughton and starring Michael Shannon, Samantha Morton and Peter Fonda. It premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival the same year and is to be shown at the Munich International Film Festival in 2014 Steve directed the video content for the band Styx for their last 7 tours including the 2014 Don Felder/Foreigner/Styx "SOS" tour. Mr. Jones is Producer in Residence at DePaul University where he teaches Graduate level Feature Film Producing classes and has lectured at Northwestern University and Columbia College. Steven A. Jones lives in Chicago, Illinois.